Quid Raises $74 Million to Loan Money to Tech Workers—Using Their Startup Shares as Collateral

Harri Weber

Harri is dot.LA's senior finance reporter. She previously worked for Gizmodo, Fast Company, VentureBeat and Flipboard. Find her on Twitter and send tips on L.A. startups and venture capital to harrison@dot.la.

Quid Raises $74 Million to Loan Money to Tech Workers—Using Their Startup Shares as Collateral
Quid Managing Partners Josh Berman (left) and Anthony Tucker

Quid, which loans money to employees at high-flying tech firms, has quietly raised $74.1 million in new funding, according to a disclosure filed this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission.


The Santa Monica-based company offers tech workers who are awarded equity a way to cash out early—a valuable proposition in an era when startups are choosing to stay private longer. Quid provides loans worth up to 35% of the value of an employee’s stock; in return, it charges interest rates around 7% and also receives a cut of the shares after a liquidity event such as an IPO or acquisition.

Since the only collateral involved is the equity itself, Quid says it only works with a select group of firms—at least two dozen at last count—that it deems worthy of the risk, including Airbnb, Bird and SpaceX. Quid, which launched in 2017, most recently raised $320 million for its second fund in late 2020, as dot.LA reported at the time.

Quid’s new $74 million funding haul came from just one investor, per the SEC filing. While representatives for the company did not respond to a request for comment, at least one LP—L.A.-based private equity giant Oaktree Capital Management—has publicly said it would partner with Quid on future funds. Coupled with the $420 million it raised across its first two funds, according to Crunchbase data, the new funding would take Quid to nearly $500 million raised to date.

Quid is unequivocally a Troy Capital production: it is led by Troy partners Josh Berman, Anthony Tucker, and Samit Varma, and is the sole company advertised on the Santa Monica-based venture capital firm’s website.

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Office Hours: Apex Founder Ian Cinnamon on Why LA Is the Aerospace Capital of the World

Spencer Rascoff

Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. During Spencer's time as CEO, Zillow won dozens of "best places to work" awards as it grew to over 4,500 employees, $3 billion in revenue, and $10 billion in market capitalization. Prior to Zillow, Spencer co-founded and was VP Corporate Development of Hotwire, which was sold to Expedia for $685 million in 2003. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 100 companies and is incubating several more.

​Ian Cinnamon
Ian Cinnamon

On this episode of Office Hours, Apex founder and CEO Ian Cinnamon discusses the importance of investing in space exploration and shares his thoughts on the evolving space ecosystem in Los Angeles.


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This Week in ‘Raises’: Measurabl Snags $93M, Selva Ventures Grabs $34M

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

Raises
Image by Joshua Letona

A local data management platform company lands fresh funding to help commercial real estate owners reduce carbon footprint, while one Los Angeles-based venture firm closes its second fund to accelerate the growth of emerging companies across health, wellness, beauty and personal care.

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McKinsey & Company Launches InLA Accelerator To Help Underrepresented Founders Tackle Startup Challenges

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

McKinsey & Company Launches InLA Accelerator To Help Underrepresented Founders Tackle Startup Challenges
InLA

In 2022, female founders saw a 28% decline in overall U.S. funding, while Black-led startups saw a 38% decline in total capital received. In an effort to increase funding for minority-led startups, global venture firm McKinsey & Company is launching InLA, an accelerator program for underrepresented founders.

“This effort is something that the firm has been really excited about for a long time,” Engagement Manager Elkhyn Rivas Rodriguez said. “There's obviously a meaningful and growing startup community out here and just from a diversity standpoint, LA is incredibly diverse and multi-ethnic and multicultural. So we think that there will be a really great pool of potential companies to partner with.”

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